Rose By Another Name
by bririzzle
Summary: Rose and Emmett meet at a wedding and agree to spend one night together without exchanging any information - not even their names. How will fate bring them together?
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Hello darlings. I've been in the writing mood, and decided to start a little light hearted story. It's an idea I borrowed from How I Met Your Mother and the 12 billion chick flicks I own.

1st REAL chapter will be up soonish. Just wanted to give you a little taste in the meantime. 3

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"I saw it in a TV show once," I encouraged with a soft smile.

"Yeah? And how did that turn out for them?" His Caribbean blue eyes focused on me and a smirk played at the corners of his mouth.

I shrugged and looked up at him through my lashes. "I don't know, I didn't get to finish it, but I always liked the idea."

He quirked his head to the side slightly, taking a moment to contemplate my offer. Slowly, his smirk widened and spread out into a full fledged smile that made him look nearly ten years younger. "Alright. You're on."

My pulse started to race. I had never been one for casual encounters, and maybe it was the cheap champagne clogging my more reasonable senses, but I couldn't think of any reason not to.

"So let me get this right. No names, no numbers, and no strings?"

"Precisely."

In the background, I heard the bride call for all the single ladies to hit the dance floor for the bouquet toss. I had no intention of taking part in that insane ritual, but turned slightly in my seat, just enough to see Alice elbowing her way to the middle.

"What should I call you? _Hey you_ doesn't exactly exude sex appeal," he said, bringing my attention back to him.

"Call me…" I looked around and my eyes focused on the floral centerpiece. "Call me Lilly."

"Lilly." He let the name roll off his tongue and fall out of those gorgeous, bitable lips. "I like that."

"And what am I calling you?"

He took a moment to consider. "How about you call me Emmett?" he suggested.

"I like it." I rose from my chair and reached out my hand. "Ready?"

His large hand enveloped mine firmly as he stood up, towering at least half a foot above my 5'9" frame. "Definitely," he replied. "Are you?"


	2. Chapter 1

**a/n:** I love San Francisco dearly, so I'm devoting a portion of this fic to the places in it I love the most. Prefacing each chapter, I'll give you a breakdown of any provincial terms used.

P.S. I don't have a beta, nor do I intend to get one. I think my most heinous crimes tend to be with comma splices. If it gets horrendously bad and you can't even bring yourself to see past the splices to the content - please let me know. I'll either a) get a beta or b) start using the reference guide that is sitting two feet away from me.

**-MUNI: **Part of what makes SF so amazing is the transit system. MUNI consists of the buses and underground routes that circulate the city.

**- Judy's Café:** It's in the Marina district of San Francisco and a nice walk to the lovely Crissy Fields that have great views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

**- Castro district:** It's a largely gay populated area of San Francisco. Lots of fun bars and clubs. Lot's of really yummy restaurants, too. Good times can be had there, and there's plenty of eye candy too. ;o) Refers to the street and the surrounding neighborhood.

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Chapter One:

"Are you glowing? You're glowing. Why are you glowing?" Alice stood in front of me, pulling my attention away from the sleep deprived dream land I had been in while waiting in line at Judy's Café.

I disappeared mid-reception last night without even a goodbye to Alice. She had texted me at some point during the night, but I didn't get back to her until just a few short hours ago when I finally made it home.

"Good morning to you, too." I attempted and failed to stifle a yawn.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want the details. Who he is, where you met and how big his dick is."

I raised an eyebrow. "Would you like his social security number and mother's maiden name while we're at it?"

"If you've got it, smart ass." Alice smiled up at me. "You know I can have his records before we even finish with breakfast."

"Oh, I know."

The last time Alice had the chance to meet one of my dates, she managed to get enough information in their three minute conversation to pull his credit report, medical records, and criminal background. Sometime between the picnic at Golden Gate Park and the walk to the DeYoung Museum, she texted me with a 911. I excused myself to the bathroom to call her back and she proceeded to give me the low down on his lousy credit score and how he had acquired Chlamydia in 2002.

I had tried to argue with her that he probably didn't still have it after 3 years, but the relationship didn't survive long enough to make it to a second date. After that, I knew I had to watch what information I gave Alice. I suppose I should feel grateful to have such a concerned friend, but with Alice's line of work in the FBI, she had a knack for taking things to the extreme.

"Details," she demanded.

With a sigh, I began.

***

The breeze flicked off the bay and whipped my dress around my legs while simultaneously lifting my hair in a whirlwind about my head. If Mother Nature didn't start behaving herself, my hair would look like a bird had made its home in it, and that's not a look even I could pull off.

Of course Angela had picked the one spot in the city that taxi's rarely made it out to, Treasure Island, to celebrate her nuptials. Emmett and I looked around us at the car lined streets.

Emmett scratched his head and looked down at me apologetically. "I drove out here with my sister, so I'm leaving the car with her. Do you know the number to a cab company?"

"No," I shook my head. "But we don't need one. How do you feel about public transportation?"

"Good, actually. You know, I heard that in the original version of Cinderella, she was taken to the ball on MUNI."

I laughed. "I think I heard that version, too."

We meandered over to a bench swathed in dull yellow light from the street light above it. Behind us, the city sparkled brilliantly. There were no blankets of fog threatening to dull its luster on any horizon.

"So, Emmett…if that's even your real name…" I began. "Tell me something about yourself that you would _never_ tell a stranger."

"Hmm…" He sat down beside me on the bench, and stretched out an arm over the back of it. "Would you really call us strangers at this point?"

"I most certainly would. We don't even know each other's real names."

He nodded his head. "Alright then." He took a moment. "Okay. You know that commercial with the Sarah MacLachlan song and all the sad and homeless puppies? It makes me cry. Every time. I don't even have to watch it. Even when I fast forward through it on the DVR or hear the song in a completely random place, it kills me."

I tried to stifle my laughter and smile at him sympathetically, but wasn't managing to do a very good job of it. "That's so sweet," I said with a smile and a slight cough to cover up a giggle. Emmett was so brawny and masculine looking, it was hard to believe a couple of pictures of sad puppies paired with a sentimental song could tug at his heart-strings. Not that it didn't tear me apart every time I saw it…

"Yeah, real masculine of me. I know. Your turn." He looked at me expectantly.

I could see the bus coming and moved to stand up. Without thinking, I said "I smell my dental floss." I then proceeded to mentally kick myself in the knee caps for being such an idiot.

"I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that." Emmett stood and looked at me with a puzzled expression. "Did you say you _smell_ your _dental floss_?"

"Dental hygiene is very important to me. Besides, how else am I supposed to know if my breath smells good?" The bus groaned to a halt at the curb and the doors smacked open.

"So, I know we're aiming at things that we'd never tell a stranger, but that's probably something you better not tell anyone else," he said with a laugh. I would have been mad if his dimples weren't so darned cute.

"Mock me now Cry Baby, pay later," I warned.

"Alright, alright…" he struggled to regain his composure as he sat down in the seat next to me. Even though it was only about 8 on a Saturday night, the bus was sparsely populated and we had most of it to ourselves. A good thing too, since his legs took up so much room.

"So, where we headed anyways, Flossy?"

"Lilly." I reminded him sternly.

"Oh, I know. I just like Flossy better."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, Cry Baby, I hadn't got that far. I figured we'd make it into the city first and decide where to go from there."

He nodded his head and we sat in silence for a few moments as the bus rambled across the bridge. You would think, being strangers and all, that the silence would have been uncomfortable. Or that we'd struggle to fill the gaps with meaningless chatter. But it wasn't even remotely uncomfortable. We sat next to each other, enjoying the scenery of the city pass us by. Only when we finally took the exit into SOMA did Emmett break the silence.

"I have a proposition for you," he began.

"Uh-oh. Nothing good ever comes from a statement that contains the word _proposition_."

"Hear me out."

I swept my arm out in front of me, gesturing for him to take the floor.

"Now, normally, I'm all for the casual thing…and they might revoke my dude card for this…but I propose we spend the night together, not sleeping together," he said with a not-so-covert wink. "Or rather, I suggest we spend it on a series of mini-dates." He looked at me, waiting for some indication of whether or not he should continue.

"By all means, Cry Baby, do continue." I gazed at him skeptically until his dimples made their third appearance of the night. Those wicked little indents sure knew how to cast a spell over me, because while they were in action there was no way I could deny him anything.

"I have a feeling that a girl who takes MUNI and admits to smelling her dental floss has some interesting ideas of fun. And I want to know what those are. It's about 8:30 now," he said as he glanced at his phone. "If we start now, we can probably do about three dates each at about an hour and a half a pop. What do you say, Flossy?"

"It's on like Donkey Kong, Cry Baby. Challenge accepted."

***

"What can I start you off with?" the waitress asked.

"I'll take the cream cheese French toast with strawberries and banana and a fresh squeezed orange juice, please. Oh, and coffee." I handed her my menu and looked over at Alice, whose mouth was hanging slightly ajar.

"If you don't shut your mouth, the tourists are going to think you're a seal and start tossing fish in there."

Her jaw snapped closed as she pushed her menu to the waitress and mumbled something about a veggie omelet.

Alice still hadn't said coherent a word by the time my coffee arrived and I thought she had gone permanently mute until she finally managed to lift the corner of her mouth into a half smile.

"And she's back."

"Emmett?" she asked.

"Yup. And before you go off on a tangent, lecturing me about the dangers of dating, remember that I _did_ meet him at Angela's wedding, so he can't be all that bad.

"I actually wasn't going to go there, thank you very much, but I feel I should remind you that Eric Yorkie was there last night, too."

"Good point," I grimaced. "I usually try to block him out. But Yorkie's mostly harmless anyways."

Alice rolled her eyes, but nodded her head. "Okay, well, this might be the most romantic wedding encounter I've ever heard of. I want to hear it all, and I do mean everything, down to the last insignificant detail. So you better get talking if you plan on eating when that French toast hits the table."

"Please. There isn't a force on this planet that's going to keep me from devouring every last delicious morsel, but I'll make you a deal. I'll talk in between chewing."

"Deal. What's he look like? Maybe I saw him last night."

"Oh no. I'm not giving you any personal identifiers," I said. "You'll have a surveillance car outside his apartment before we even get our food."

"Pft." Alice shook her head. "I would do no such thing. Besides, the FBI frowns on that."

"Do _not_ tell me you've done that before."

Alice smiled angelically at me before she took a sip of coffee. "Fine, I won't tell you. But will you at least tell me if he's your usual type? It's hard to live vicariously through you if I can't imagine what he looks like."

I took a moment to consider her question. Frankly, when I first spotted him at the reception, which wasn't that hard considering he was at least a head taller than everyone around him, I just remember deciding that I would be taking him home that night. Well, if I was being honest, that decision came about 30 minutes and at least four glasses of champagne later, but in my mind it wasn't even an option.

I catalogued his features in my head; dark, curly hair; eyes that shifted to various shades of blue depending on his surroundings; huge, football player build; and the dimples, oh the dimples. My knees shook at the mere memory of them.

"Definitely not my type," I responded.

"Really…" Alice mused. "Very interesting. Would I find him attractive?"

Alice had a very specific type, and as such, dating wasn't something she did much of. There wasn't a lot of tall, blonde and southern charm in the city. Tall, sure. Blonde, definitely. Tall _and_ blonde even. But when you tried to mix in that last ingredient, she would be left trolling the Castro district, and as much fun as that could be, for a straight girl, it was pretty fruitless.

"I don't think you would find him _un_attractive, but he's not really your type either," I replied.

"Curiouser and curiouser. In what ways?"

Another sip of coffee later and it finally clicked with me what she was angling at. "Hey now. None of your Jedi FBI mind tricks. I'm giving you the what's, the where's and the wonderful's, but you'll get no more information from me."

Alice crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

"Your pouting hasn't worked on me since the 5th grade when you ponynapped the purple sparkly My Little Pony Angela got me for my birthday."

"You don't even like purple. Or sparkles."

"That's so not the point. Now uncross your arms and act like a big girl or I won't finish my story."

Alice rolled her eyes at me and made a big to-do about uncrossing her arms, but I dove back into my story anyways. Part of me wanted to say it out loud, because otherwise, I was sure it would disappear like a dream upon waking. And last night was not something I ever wanted to forget.

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Thanks heaps for the lovely reviews for the prologue! It's cliche, but they make me happy. No, I haven't responded to anyone yet, but I will. It's on my agenda. Probably tomorrow sometime in between bbq'ing and avoiding the family. Reviews = me keeping my sanity. Help a girl out y/y?


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